OVER the last decade there has been a tremendous growth fighting for women's rights inside the labour movement. There have been West London and SEl in Manchester.
the most militant disputes of recent years -from Grunwicks to the current Lee Jeans occupation in Greenock.
the campaigns the women's liberation movement these struggles forced the trade unions to take women's rights seriously.
Now mere de countiess advisory committees, women's conterences booklets and general labour movement.
ror te trade union leaders the answer to women's oppression was the passing of the Equal Pay and Sex Dischmination Acts. There was no the need Labour government would look after women's interests. Over the years later these measures are shown to be woetully inadequate. Pay Today women's unemployment is still double that of men. Women's pay is only 73 per • cent oI men's pay and the gap is widening. New measures to defend women's rights are being sought.
Positive action is the new catch word. All sorts of people are around The recently sponsored a national union ConTe ence on positive action, so too did NCCL. The women's TUC have produced a renort for the next TUC congress. It calls for the TUC to recognise that women suffer from past and therefore that compensatory measures need to be taken.
Sarialist Challenge 11+00-1981 in the movement momentous women industrial workers have led some of believe that movement must be built for women's rights based HE WOMEN NOTAT are depressed or their jobs boost men's wages or give them JObS. Nor the qual pay struggles of th 1970s lower men's pay. Or the contrary it was a boost Women at Trico vote to reject the management's pay offer We hope to have militants from BL, steel, mines, British Telecoms, Lee Jeans and the People's March among others.
The Sunday morning session will take up the theme 'Building a party of worker revolutionaries'.
Conference will then break workshops which will include.
• The role of the industrial working class in the socialist revolution. Building a proletarian women's movement and the fight for positive action.
Constructing a class struggle left the labour movement: the experience of the Minority Movement.
• Building a class struggle left wing: the USA in the '30s.
• The role of black workers.
To end the Challenge supporters industries will into Saturday celebrates Youth youth speakers. Trotskyists and the Teamsters union in conference Socialist meet to discuss the next practical steps to be taken in building a party and the class struggle left wing in evening rally the 1st anniversary of Revolution with international National Union of Railwaymen leaders refuse to mobilise it.
Campaigning left every debate. nose into the Labour Party ched a campaign of his own side the Labour Party. members into appear on this year's agenda General Meeting (conference).
The division By Hazel MacPherson, Paddington No. 1 MY union, the NUR, is part of the Triple Alliance of rail, coal, and steel workers. This alliance has already showed its potential strength when the miners took on Thatcher and with the support of the rail and steelworkers, beat her. The combined strength of these three unions could quite easily get rid if the government altogether, but the top wings need to be built in every union to deal with the sabotage of the officials. This means involving and reaching out to the whole membership in every struggle and in The left in the NUR must stick its Our General Secretary, Mr Weighell, has laun- against the left inThis has drawn NUR a political debate on an un precedented scale. No less than 18 resolutions supporting the left and the gains on party democracy of our Annual between politics and trade unionism is beginning to break down. If we want to defeat Thatcher's government, then we have to challenge our own leaderships. We need to have as full a political understanding on our side as does
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struggles for equal pay - from the Fords women machinists to the women at Tricos,
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SATURDAY 27 lune CAXTON HOUSE 7.30pm E1 129 ST JOHNS WAY LONDON N19 (near Archway Tube Sta) Why I am coming to